Faithless Brewing MTG: Modern and Pioneer for the Spike Rogue

In Search of Greatness, At Any Cost

Kaldheim Season, Episode 13: In Search of Greatness
In Search of Greatness is a real brewer's card. It bears a passing resemblance to many different cards, but in each case the differences far outweigh the similarities. The most famous comparison is Aether Vial, a mana generator so powerful that it spawned an entire class of archetypes. But where Aether Vial has a clear ask -- fill your deck with creatures and put them at similar spots on the mana curve -- In Search of Greatness is far more demanding. To unlock its powerful but capricious free cast trigger, you need to play all up and down the mana curve, and dig deep into the bag of deckbuilding tricks. Getting even one free activation off Greatness feels like an achievement, much less activating it turn after turn. Toski is a fickle little squirrel it seems, always asking for something new and bigger in your hand. Then again, we can always scry 1!
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Decklists for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com
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What's Winning After the B&R + Strixhaven First Look

Kaldheim Season, Episode 12: Post-B&R Week 1 Roundup
There's nothing quite like that new meta smell. With one week of tournaments in the books and nary an Uro in sight, the crew takes a look at what's been winning in the new Modern landscape. Is Heliod Company a cut above the field? Which archetype is poised to become the new face of control? And why the sudden uptick in squirrels? Meanwhile in Pioneer, the brewers are out in force and there is tons of innovation. From Dragon tempo, to Emergent Ultimatum combo, to Giant Ox vehicles, there's something spicy for everyone. If you've been sitting on the sidelines of Pioneer, now is the perfect time to dive back in!It feels like Kaldheim has just begun all over again, but there's no rest for the brewing as Strixhaven is just weeks away. Wizards gave us a sneak peek at a cycle of enemy-color Commands; do any of them have what it takes?
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Decklists and timestamps for this episode can be viewed at FaithlessBrewing.com
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Gettin’ Jiggy with Righteous Valkyrie (ft. Arun Singh)

Kaldheim Season, Episode 11: Righteous Valkyrie
There’s nothing subtle about Righteous Valkyrie. Pay three mana, get a 2/4 flyer. Make angels or clerics, gain some life, and double buff your team. It’s an eminently fair bargain, the exact kind of card that ought to be sweet but is rarely good enough in non-rotating formats.
But hope springs eternal, especially when all the formats are brand new. 2W for a 4/6 flying double anthem is plenty of payoff, but is the supporting cast going to be too weak? We’ve got six configurations to put through their paces, so let’s fire up the life gain and see what this angel can do!
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Brew Session: Righteous ValkyrieSketch 1: Bant Coco Angels (Modern)Sketch 2: Mono-W Heliod (Modern)Sketch 3: Righteous Soul Sisters (Modern)Sketch 4: Orzhov Angels (Pioneer)Sketch 5: Mardu Kaalia Angels (Pioneer)Sketch 6: GW Angel Company (Pioneer)
Flashback: Birgi, God of StorytellingBirgi Showdown 1.0: 1-4 leagueBirgi Song Combo: 1-4 league
Where to find Arun:Twitter: @asingh517MTGO: JiggywiggySerum Visions Podcast
 

Nuke It from Space: Fallout from the Biggest B&R in History (ft. Arun Singh)

Kaldheim Season, Episode 10: Analyzing the Feb. 15 B&R Update
 
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath is very hard to kill. You can try to fight Uro with this strategy or that one, but the card just keeps coming at you, in format after format. Natural metagame forces were powerless in the face of Uro's F.I.R.E. design friends. In the end, Wizards took a page from Sigourney Weaver and did they only thing they could: You have to nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Brewer extraordinaire Arun Singh joins the cast this week to help us make sense of the biggest B&R announcement in Magic history. Five cards were banned in Modern, including a beloved monkey, and the Cascade mechanic was altered to end the brief but terrifying reign of Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor. Five cards were also banned in Pioneer, sending shockwaves through a metagame that now seems completely wide open. Did WOTC go too far with these bannings, or have they perhaps not gone far enough? And what does this all mean for the formats we so know and love?
 
"Vehicles: Rails Were Meant to be Broken (ft. Cavedan!!)" -- Serum Visions Podcast #12
 
Where to find Arun:
Twitter: @asingh517
MTGO: Jiggywiggy
Serum Visions Podcast
 
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Fetch Me a Horn of Bounty, and Pour One for Yourself: Brewing Up a Storm with Birgi

Kaldheim Season, Episode 9: Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty
When evaluating new cards, a quick hack is to look for anything that cheats on mana. These are the cards that can really do something special. Cheating out a 7 mana Tibalt? Yep, that tracks. Fistfuls of Treasure off Magda? Sign us up.
This week continues that trend. Birgi, God of Storytelling is a cost reducer dialed up to 11. Her front face resembles Baral, Chief of Compliance or Goblin Electromancer: mana engines that scale the more spells you cast. But Birgi is even more generous. Cards that cost 1 are completely free, and cards that cost zero actually send up you mana. Mishra’s Bauble becomes a ritual; Mox Amber becomes Seething Song.
Once you have this much mana, all you’re looking for is a source of cards. Birgi makes this easy as you please: just flip the card over and you have Harnfel, Horn of Bounty, a multi-use Magmatic Channeler that trades each card in your hand for two fresh ones. Standard players learned to fear the pairing of Runaway Steam-Kin and Experimental Frenzy; Birgi gives you both effects on the same card.
All told, Birgi is shockingly open-ended, capable of supporting existing engine decks or perhaps spawning new archetypes all her own. We’ve got seven lists to test across multiple formats, so let’s see what Birgi can do!
 
View decklists for this episode at FaithlessBrewing.com
 
Decklists for Birgi // Harnfel
Sketch 1: Boros Showdown Storm
Sketch 2: Temur Artifact Ramp
Sketch 3: Pioneer Song of Creation
Sketch 4: Modern Birgi Song
Sketch 5: Birgi Grinding Breach by Nilsfit (5-0 league)
Sketch 6: UR Prowess
Sketch 7: Birgi Waste Not
Flashback: Magda, Brazen Outlaw
Magda Jeskai Ascendancy: 1-4 league
Temur Treasures: 0-4 league
Jeskai Dwarf Tempo: 2-3 league
Aura of Dominion Combo: 2-3 league
 
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We Broke Modern and All We Got Was This Lousy Secret Lair Announcement

Kaldheim Season, Episode 8: Top 8 in the Modern Challenge with 5c Counter-Tibalt
What is the highest achievement for a brewer? It’s not winning the Pro Tour. No, ask most hardcore brewers and they’ll tell you the ultimate dream is to “break the format” — to invent the deck that proves unstoppable, to rake in accolades as your creation gets picked up by top players and dominates the tournament meta.
But here’s the thing about broken formats: people tend to hate them. It’s a fine line between powerful and oppressive, and somewhere in the last seven days, Cascade Tibalt has crossed that line. We spent two weeks brewing an amazing Spell Queller Counter-Tibalt deck, taking it all the way to Top 8 in last weekend’s Modern Challenge, and guess what? People hate it. It seems that what’s true for Batman is also true for brewing: you either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. 
The era of Cascade Tibalt is likely to be short lived, but while it’s here we are going to savor the moment. After all, it’s not every day that a brew we drew up as a thought experiment turns out to be tier zero. Along the way, we amassed an 80% win rate in leagues (28-7) and a 73% win rate in Challenges (7th and 19th place). Even an early version of our list, still running Demonic Dread, was good enough to notch a 10th place finish in Saturday’s Challenge. Of course, that was all ages ago in the fast moving world of Cascade Modern. The format has moved on, and so shall we. There’s always something new to learn, and the next broken deck to discover!
Happy brewing,—cavedan
4c Counter-Tibalt (5-0 league): https://twitter.com/FaithlessMTG/status/1357754500208025604?s=20
5c Counter-Tibalt (6-2 Saturday Challenge, 5-2 Sunday Challenge): https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3741661#online
Build notes: is this the final form of the deck?
 
Picks of the WeekDavid’s pick: Dimir Release the Gods by MentalMisstephttps://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3743211#online
David’s version (4-1 league): https://scryfall.com/@FaithlessMTG/decks/bd966d1d-d9ea-4721-82b0-f53989266690
Damon’s pick: Mardu Showdown by Nolansanity https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3741603#online
Cavedan’s pick: World Tree Combo by killersuvhttps://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3741599#online
 
 

The Truth about Tibalt's Trickery

Kaldheim Season, Episode 7: Picks of the Week  // Flashback: Valki and Alrund
 
We’ll let you in on a secret: Tibalt’s Trickery is just noise. A deck with this much meme potential was bound to get lots of attention, but highlight reel screenshots do not equate to tournament wins. Yes, Trickery decks are stronger than expected, but they are easily hated out.
Valki, on the other hand… now there is a real villain. Big Tibalt may be overcosted at 7 mana, but at 3 mana he is straight busted. Our testing this week sent us deep down the rabbit hole, starting with all-in versions that aimed for nothing less than Turn 1 Tibalt, and morphing to hybrid builds capable of playing a longer game. As the week progressed, it became clear that Modern is ruled by the Cascade mechanic, with Tibalt at the helm. That means that Force of Negation and Teferi, Time Raveler are absolute powerhouses. And you know what card pitches to Force? Ardent Plea.
Our Flashback segment this week chronicles Dan’s wild journey with Valki, culminating in a teched out Counter-Tibalt build that he rode to an 80% win rate (28-7) and ultimately to a Top 8 finish in the Modern Challenge. Some of that, though, happened after this episode was recorded, and is a tale for next week. Until then: don’t leave home without Spell Pierce!
 
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Roundup: Picks of the Week
David's Pick: 50 Land Trickery by Sodeq
Cavedan's Pick: Temur Giants by aspiringspike
Damon's Pick: Dimir Cosima Control by Galanator
 
Flashback: Valki and Alrund
Turn 1 Tibalt 1.1 (Modern) 6-4 leagues (3-2, 3-2)
Trick or Tibalt (Modern): 4-1 league
4c Counter-Tibalt (Modern): 20-5 leagues (4-1, 4-1, 5-0, 3-2, 4-1)
5c Counter-Tibalt (Modern): 8-2 leagues (4-1, 4-1), Top 8 Modern Challenge (6-2)
Dimir Release the Gods (Pioneer): 4-6 leagues (2-3, 2-3)
Esper Yorion Flicker (Pioneer): 3-2 league
 
 
 

Diamond Hands: Treasure Cruisin' with Magda, Brazen Outlaw

Kaldheim Season, Episode 06: Magda, Brazen Outlaw
 
The most dangerous mechanic in Magic? Fast mana. Always has been, always will be. Cards that produce bursts of mana are the rarest of the rare. Cards that do so repeatedly wind up on banned lists.
Imagine our surprise, then, when Kaldheim introduced us to Magda, Brazen Outlaw. Cheap, repeatable Treasures on an aggressive tribal lord, with a free repeatable tutor clause thrown in? Wizards is playing with F.I.R.E. here. Yes, the Dwarf tribe has been massively shorted (they're Dwarves after all), but don't let the fat cats in Renton dissuade you. There's fistfuls of Treasure to be gained for brewers with diamond hands.
Context is everything, of course. Whether recruiting Dwarves, tutoring Dragon or artifact payoffs, or unlocking obscure combos (Clock of Omens anyone?), one thing is certain: Magda is going to make us work for it. We've got four new lists to test and a half dozen more on the drawing board, so let's get to work!
 
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Timestamps
2:08 Magda Rules Notes
3:47 Tap Outlets
6:59 Are There Playable Dwarves?
10:05 Dragon Payoffs
13:56 Artifact Payoffs
18:01 Mana Sinks
20:22 Treasure Makers
22:47 Clock of Omens Combo
26:33 Aura of Dominion Combo
28:09 Paradox Engine Combo
30:49 Sketch 1: Magda Clock Combo (Modern) (3-2 league)
35:50 Sketch 2: Jeskai Dwarf Tempo (Modern)
44:38 Sketch 3: Boros Dwarves (Pioneer)
49:49 Sketch 4: Temur Treasures (Pioneer)